Well, we did it! Jasmine and I got this year's mentoring program started today with these two young men at Cherry Valley. The tall drink of water on my right is Hayden, and on my left is Lee. They are both 13, and their birthdays are only three days apart.
I am really beginning to dislike training at Cherry Valley. The cover looks thick, but it's thin underneath. That actually encourages the birds to run instead of flush, so Jasmine had a real hard time pinning them down.
The boys did great...well, except for their shooting.
One of Lee's birds got away from me, so he had to settle for just one. Jasmine tried to point it, but she couldn't pin it down. I sent Lee in to flush the bird, but after only a few moments I also went in to help. Lee saw the grass moving as the bird was trying to run, and was in the right place to cut it off, so he had a real good shot.. However in all the excitement he didn't get the safety off right away. He did take a shot that was in reasonable range, but he missed.
Jasmine was able to produce both birds for Hayden. The first bird flushed into some power lines, so Hayden, without any help from his dad or me, passed on the shot. Good job Hayden! Jasmine held an excellent point on the next bird, but again when Hayden went in to flush it the bird started running around in the tall grass. Jasmine stayed steady through us thrashing around for a couple of minutes. I finally released her, because we couldn't find the bird. She went 10 feet and it busted...finally! Hayden was in perfect position, but... he missed.
All in all I think it was a pretty good day for everyone. To top it off Lee's dad Steve gave me a half gallon of some outstanding homemade apple cider, and some beef jerky!!
